Fan behavior not a good example for high sports

Friday

Jan 17, 2014 at 12:34 AM

Marc Edwards' weekly column

Marc Edwards

I have been covering high school sports for almost four decades and last Saturday I really had compassion for a U-High girls’ basketball player and a Herscher boys’ basketball player. It wasn’t the action that took place on the court, it’s what went on in the stands. One of the parents for this particular U-High player went way over the edge with her behavior during the game. This is high school basketball, not professional sports. You’re not paying big money to sit courtside at NBA games and heckle players and officials. Your admission to a high school game is $3 or $4. The ticket gives you a right to enter the gymnasium and cheer on your team. It does not give you the right to scream at opposing players, yell at your own coach or make derogatory comments to floor officials. Your conduct is embarrassing to those around you and who know you. Remember, this is a high school game. Some parents bring their grade-school children to these games to watch their older siblings play. They don’t need your foul-mouth tirades. One such incident happened last Saturday afternoon in the girls’ game at Pontiac. One parent became upset by a referee’s call that went against her daughter. This woman was relentless and wouldn’t get off one of the official who made the call. Finally, the ref had enough. He briefly stopped the game and had a PTHS administrator escort the woman from the gym. This woman was the mother of one of U-High’s best players. The player looked up in the stands and saw her mother being led from the game. She appeared to be embarrassed and ashamed. She just bent over and put her hands on her knees. She never even made eye contact with her mom. This woman was shouting at the referee that he made a mistake. I know a lot of refs and once in awhile they do make mistakes. We all do, we’re human. But you don’t make a comment like, “Get her off of her ref, she’s choking her.” First of all, if the Pontiac girl was choking the U-High player, she would have been ejected from the game immediately. Secondly, the referee likely would have been written up if that took place, he did nothing and it got back to the IHSA. Maybe it wasn’t the right term but, oops, too late you said it. Maybe it wasn’t the comment, maybe it was the tone of the woman’s voice, whatever it was it didn’t matter, she was gone. Then, during the PTHS-Herscher boys’ game that night, it happened again. Thank goodness it happened in the third quarter and not during the first half because the annual PTHS cheerleader clinic routine was held at halftime. There were more than 90 grade school girls ready to show their parents and grandparents what they had learned during the clinic. The language this man used against the floor officials shouldn’t have been said in front of those girls — or anyone else, for that matter — and it wasn’t. The young girls were not subjected to this outburst; they had already left the floor after their routine. But those of us in the stands heard enough. The press row area was still up after the holiday tournament, so about four or five Herscher fans decided to sit at the table. It was a very physical game and this fan thought the Tigers were getting “hosed” by the calls. There were fouls called on both the Indians and Tigers. Let me remind you that the Indians made 17 of 20 shots from the free throw line in that fourth quarter. Bottom line: PTHS made their free throws, Herscher didn’t. The game officials called it both ways, but this “bleacher ref” thought otherwise. He, too, rode these officials’ backs and finally he got booted from the gym. For three years now, I’ve sat closer to the action than when I worked radio. You hear everything — good and bad. There are times I want to forget I’m a reporter and just go ballistic on these fans and their rude behavior. I can’t do that because somehow it would get back to my bosses that I wasn’t acting professionally and I’d lose my job. “Fan” is short for “fanatic.” Some of these so-called “fans” take it to the extreme. If you want to be extreme, cheer louder for your team than the opposition. This is not WWE or MMA, it’s family entertainment called high school basketball. I haven’t seen any fans in this area acting like this at our area high schools — that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, I just haven’t seen it. Here’s a little tip when attending a high school sporting event — engage your brain before opening your mouth. Once something is said, it can never be taken back. Those around you will then see you for what you really are.Plus, your children will have to live with it when they go to school the next day.